Eavesdropping
by angel-death-dealer
Summary: Out in the jungle, Kate overhears an interesting conversation between Jack and Sawyer, so she hides, and listens in, getting more than she bargained for. Jate. Oneshot.


Kate was heading back to the beach when she heard the voices. She had been out for the morning, collecting fruit to get some peace and quiet away from the rest of the survivors. Since they had returned from the Other's camp, all she had gotten was questions. A lot of the time, she would hide out with Claire and Sun, but when more of them had found her there, she had disappeared into the jungle.

However, it seemed that her two other companions had the same idea. It didn't take her long to realise that the voices coming towards her belonged to Jack and Sawyer, but she was more confused that they were getting along...well, more than usual. They had been talking a lot more since they returned from the other side of the island.

Not wanting to interrupt them, she quickly settled in a bush on the edge of the clearing she was in, and noticed that they, too, were picking fruit. Her plan of staying hidden for a few moments whilst they passed through the clearing was abandoned as they settled their bags on the floor, and Sawyer proceeded to climb into the nearest fruit tree. Jack was left on the ground, standing with his back towards Kate's hiding place.

"I don't know why you're denyin' it so much." Sawyer called down from the branches.

"I'm not denying anything." Jack called back.

"Sure you aren't." Sawyer sarcastically agreed, his Southern accent making it even more disbelieving.

"I don't know what you're trying to prove." Jack said innocently, looking around the clearing, but not catching sight of Kate behind him.

"I ain't tryin' to prove anythin'." Sawyer said, as he threw some apples down to Jack, who caught them with ease. "It's the others at the beach who are gossipin' about the two of y'all at their slumber parties - which I'd like to add I don't get invited to!" He added with some annoyance in his tone which made Jack laugh.

"Then how'd you know?" Jack asked through his amusement.

"What?"

"How do you know what they're saying if you don't get invited?" He questioned. "Spying on them?"

Sawyer climbed back down from the tree. "A group of women heading off along the beach in the middle of the night by themselves...someone's gotta protect them." He said simply as he touched ground again. "Heck, you're not there to play hero - why can't I give it a shot?" Jack gave him a withering look and Sawyer looked genuinely offended. "What? I can be heroic!"

Jack shook his head to himself. "The girls know not to wander far from camp." Jack told him.

"Girls? What are they, nine years old?" Sawyer laughed at his wording. "They're women, Jack...they move around constantly, apart from one week of the month where they sit still all the time and get pissy...'specially Kate...she gets really pissy." He told Jack.

Kate frowned at Sawyer through the bushes, but didn't make any movement seeing as he was the one most likely to see her. Jack just raised an eyebrow at him. "Ever think that it has nothing to do with hormones and she just wants you to leave her alone?"

Kate grinned at Jack sticking up for her, and Sawyer scolwed. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that one." He said annoyed. "Besides, Freckles loves my company." Jack shook his head again. "What, you think she prefers yours?"

"I'm only saying that I don't treat her like an object." Jack offered.

"Neither do I." Sawyer said.

"No, you treat her like she's a whore who should do whatever you want her to." Both Kate and Sawyer raised their eyebrows, looking at Jack. Neither of them could believe that Jack had actually said that. "She's better than that, Sawyer, a lot better."

"You getting all sentimental on me, Doc?" Sawyer teased.

"I just think that you should give her the respect she deserves." Jack suggested.

"And a criminal deserves respect?"

At this, Kate forgot about remaining hidded, and her head popped up out of the bushes, scowling at Sawyer. Sawyer saw her straight away, but had seen her hiding behind the bush whilst he was up in the tree. He decided to use that against them both, and by the time Kate's realised that she's revealed herself, she was hidden again. Unseen to Kate, Jack was staring daggers at Sawyer.

"People treat you with respect, don't they?" Jack said back bitterly, trying to resist the urge of hitting him.

Instead of getting angry, like Jack expected him to, Sawyer simply laughed to himself, and grinned. "I knew it." He said to himself.

"Knew what?" Jack asked him irritantly.

"You've fallen for her, ain't you?"

Jack gave him another look. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Maybe not, but you do." Sawyer said, still grinning cheekily.

"Excuse me?"

"Guy meets chick...chick sews his back up...kinda starting a bond there, don't you think?"

"I was lucky for her to do that." Jack pointed out. "She could have easily said no."

Sawyer continued on as if he hadn't heard Jack's interruption. "Few days later, guy get's stuck in a cave in...chick drops everything and runs to see if her prince charming is still alive...and when he gets out, the chick hugs him like there's no tomorrow, or so I hear." He grinned.

"It's called relief for a friend, Sawyer." Jack said simply.

"But then it starts getting a little bit too friendly, don't it?" Sawyer carried on. "The chick starts worming her way into your mind, and before you know it, she's got you hooked 'round her pinky."

Jack frowned at him tiredly. "Will you stop referring to Kate as a chick?" He insisted. "It's degrading."

"What? She is a chick." He protested.

"She's a person, Sawyer, just like the rest of us." Jack insisted roughly. He squared up to Sawyer, now angrier with him.

"Woah now, Doc, don't go getting all caveman on me."

Kate came out of her hiding place quietly, and started creeping up behind Jack as he spoke to Sawyer.

"Why can't you just look at her as if she's a human being? Not a criminal, not a sex object, not your personal slave - a real human being, like she is? Why can't you look past what she's putting up to show people and see what's really there? I've done it. She let me in for a while, and what I saw inside of her was amazing. She's so much more than you make her out to be, Sawyer, she's gentle, she feels, and she's sure as hell suffered in her life and she doesn't need you treating her like shit all the time to remind her of that!" Sawyer reacted only by raising an eyebrow at him. "You know what? Perhaps you don't want to see her that way...maybe you just want her to hide inside herself all the time so that she'll be there to answer your every need."

Sawyer was now completely aware that Kate was standing less than a meter behind Jack. "Is that so?" He asked, and Jack nodded firmly. "Well, what do you want for her then?"

"Me? I don't expect anything from her other than for her to be herself, something that I guess a conman like you wouldn't understand."

"Now hold on a sec-"

Jack carried on speaking over Sawyer, before he got a chance to throw in a sarcastic comment. "I want her to stop feeling like she has to hide herself to please other people around her. I want her to drop the tough girl mask every now and again to relax and feel. I want her to see that her past doesn't matter to the poeple who care about her, and it never will. Sometimes, I want her to stop looking out for everyone else around her once in a while and take care of herself; but most of all, I want her to love me as much as I love her."

Jack's last comment came out without him realising it. By the time he realised that he had said it, it was too late to take it back, and he couldn't believe that of all people to hear it, it had been Sawyer.

Sawyer stood before him, still grinning stupidly, and for a moment, Jack saw his gaze flicker over his shoulder, just for a split second, but it was enough for Jack to catch on to what was happening.

"She's standing right behind me, isn't she?" He asked quietly.

Sawyer merely nodded. "I'll leave ya'll to it." He said, clapping his hand on his shoulder and going over to his bag.

"Sawyer-"

"Don't worry, when the trees are a-rocking, I won't come a-walking." He said, waving over his shoulder as he left the clearing.

With Sawyer gone, Jack was left only with the sounds of the jungle, and his own heavy breathing. After taking a few seconds to compose himself, he turned around, seeing Kate standing about two feet behind him. Her breath was caught in her throat, in fact, she couldn't remember the last time she had breathed without it being a silent gasp. Her arms were limp at her sides, and he couldn't tell whether her face was plastered with good shock or bad shock.

"Hey." He said awkwardly.

"Hey." She muttered back breathlessly.

"So...uh...how much of that did you hear?" He asked, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"Everything from 'denial'..." She whispered.

"Ah, right, so, uh...pretty much all of it then."

Kate nodded, and after a long silence she asked him "Did you mean it?"

Jack bit his lip, and nodded. "Yeah...yeah, I meant it."

"You love me?" She asked softly. She couldn't believe it.

Jack nodded again, this time looking straight into her eyes. "Yeah, I love you." She gasped gently at hearing him say it, and Jack took a step towards her. "Kate, I don't want thinks to be awkward." He covered quickly. "I mean, I understand if you don't feel the same way. I know it's a long shot, but it's the truth, I love you, Kate."

She was still looking at him with a mixture of shock and confusion. "You want me to love you as much as you love me?" She asked him.

"It's not an expectation, Kate, only a hope." He assured her.

"And...my past...doesn't...matter to you?" That was the one she couldn't get her head around. Not that he loved her, not that he had just revealed all of this to Sawyer, but that her past didn't matter to him.

He shook his head, the most determined answer he had given her. "No. I don't see why something that happened before we met should stop me falling in love with you even more every day."

Kate stared at him for a moment, and he saw a flicker of happiness in her eyes, but before he could react to it, she had launched herself at him, throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. He wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her just as securely back.

She had one final shock for him, however. "Thank you." She murmered against him. "I do."

He pulled back a litte, so that he could look into her eyes. "What?"

"I do, Jack. I do love you...just as much." She told him.

Jack let out a happy breath that he didn't know he had been holding, and embraced her again. "You have no idea how happy I am." He told her, releasing his again.

"You could be happier." She told him.

"Really? Because hearing you say that pretty much tops my list of happy moments." He told her.

Kate bit her lip softly, and leaned up, standing on her tiptoes to reach his lips, and his head fell forward to meet her in a kiss. The kiss that he'd wanted to give her for weeks. His arms snaked around her back again, and when he pulled back a few moments later, she smiled at him. "Did that make it better?" She asked through her heavy breathing.

He grinned down at her playfully. "I think I can be persuaded."

They kissed again, this time, if possible, holding each other closer.

Not too far away from the clearing, Sawyer stepped back from the tree he was hiding behind, and smirked to himself, as he started walking back to the beach. "My work here is done." He said smugly, not looking back at the couple who were making no move to leave the clearing.


End file.
